


Life Support

by sadlonelyyogurt



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Hurt No Comfort, Sad Ending, jally if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22960093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadlonelyyogurt/pseuds/sadlonelyyogurt
Summary: I wanted to write something about Dally
Relationships: Johnny Cade & Dallas Winston
Kudos: 7





	Life Support

**Author's Note:**

> my friend's brother died a few days ago and I just needed to write something sad.

There’d once been some part of Dally that had still been alive. It was weak, it was wounded, but it was _living_. 

Growing up on the streets of New York had nearly killed him. Not only physically, but emotionally. Dally didn’t feel anything. His soul was colder than ice and drier than sand, it was wrinkled and withered and dead. The only part of him which wasn’t, that small, sliver of emotion he still had was locked away somewhere deep inside him, in a hard steel box that he never opened.

And then he met Johnny Cade. Johnny Cade wasn’t like Dallas Winston. He was small, fragile and _emotional_ . Everything he felt came out in those big black eyes of his, and when Dally saw him he felt as though someone had stabbed him through the chest. He felt suddenly responsible for this _kid_ , for keeping his innocence in tact. For making sure Johnny never became unfeeling like Dally.

 _Kindness is weakness_ , he tried to remind himself. He’d told himself he wouldn’t get too attached to anyone in that stupid gang. And then he did. Stupid, stupid.

Something about Johnny kept him alive. Was it his smile, or his eyes, or the way his soft voice could coax Dally out of the worst of moods? Johnny Cade was his life support, and Dally didn’t even know it. 

Then Johnny killed a Soc. Dally congratulated him of course, but some part of him wanted to puke. He’d clearly failed his responsibility. Even Dally had never killed someone single handedly. But nonetheless, he helped Johnny and Ponyboy run away. Dally knew he wasn’t going to let the kids live in that disgusting old church forever. Turns out that arrangement didn’t even last very long because the church burned down. It might have been a blessing if it weren’t for those idiot little kids who got trapped in there. If it weren’t for Johnny and Ponyboy wanting to play hero.

Dally burned his entire forearm pulling Johnny out of that fire. In the end, it didn’t matter. Later, as the Soc’s covered in mud and their own blood fled from the scene of the rumble, Dally had a bad feeling in his stomach. He usually relied on his brain when he needed to get anything done- that’s how he’d survived thus far. His intuition had never been something he trusted, but this time it was right. As the life flickered out of Johnny Cade’s body on the cold, white hospital bed, Dally wondered how many times it had been right before. 

Life support had failed Johnny, and it had failed Dally. Because Johnny was his life support. That shriveled, grey thing that lurked inside of him may not have been pretty, but it was alive. It was clinging to life by a shred and that shred was Johnny Cade. And now Johnny Cade was dead, and that thing inside of Dally died with him. So as the bullets ripped through his body, Dally couldn’t help but smile. He was doing the world a favor, going like this. He was a bastard criminal, a worthless hood. He was selfish and nasty and now he’d be gone forever. He thought he could hear, distantly, a familiar voice calling his name, but it didn’t matter anymore. Dallas Winston was gone. Dead.

 _Good riddance,_ he thought before a bright light washed over him, leaving him calm, content. Dallas Winston was at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> rest in peace Dre <3


End file.
